PrimaLuna EVO 400 Tube Preamplifier Review w/ Upscale Audio's Kevin Deal
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- Опубліковано 13 лип 2024
- upscaleaudio.com/products/pri...
You've been asking for this video, here it is! The flagship of the EVO line, the 400 series is the very best in audio from one of the most high-value brands in tube audio today. Find out why the PrimaLuna EVO 400 Preamplifier should be in your high-end system, unless you've got $20,000 to spend on a preamp. Herb Reichert of Stereophile, Dick Olsher of The Absolute Sound, and Jeff Dorgay of Tone Audio have all written in-depth reviews. Herb awarded it the coveted Stereophile Class A rating.
Dick wrote, "In a nutshell, it’s an insane audio bargain that delivers pure tube magic."
Jeff awarded it Tone Product of the Year 2019. - Розваги
Kevin is the man. Know’s his gear and calls it as he sees it. Refreshing 👍
Thanks Kevin - Great review and I say ditto to everything you said. I bought my EVO 400 preamp nearly a year ago and it is magic. I eventually put it with two EVO 400 powers amps and my world changed. I first put it with a solid state power amp and decided to replace it with one EVO 400 and then I added a second. Every step of the way was a noticeable improvement. All the clarity and spatial sound I was after had arrived. By the way I am utilizing balanced connections from Cardas. Now everyday I get to experience more than I ever could have imagined. I'm yet to do any tube rolling. Just too happy the way it is.
Skip that rocks. They knocked it out of the ballpark with EVO. But as always, old PrimaLuna is always relevant. And valuable.
@@upscaleaudio I paired the amps with Turnberry GR and 2 REL S/5 SHO subs. Great combination!
What speakers?
@@neilaltschuler6064 I have Turnberry GR and 2 REL S/5 SHO subs
Absolutely inspiring videos - I have learned so much about sound from Kevin. Hos funny, quirky, iconoclastic approach is fantastic - but it’s the technical knowledge and no bullshit advice that keeps me coming back. The best audio channel on UA-cam - Bar None!
I have the audio sickness, Kevin, and you're not helping lol. I received the Vincent SA-32 from your company last week, but boy this has me thinking.... Regardless, thank you! I had a hard time trying to find that preamp in my vicinity. I'm using it in a secondary system. The gentleman that served me online was very helpful and attentive through the ordering process and thereafter. I really enjoy your insight on these videos. Cheers!
There's no reviewer writing today I trust more than Herb Reichert. Thanks, Kevin. Your passion is infectious...
My pleasure! Herb's writing makes me feel...humble. Amazing.
@@upscaleaudio Kevin, I was torn between the Evo 400 preamp and the PS Audio BHK preamp. I bought the BHK preamp because of system synergy with my M700 mono blocks, but still thinking about going for the Evo 400. I spoke to Mike from your shop yesterday and we will talk again tomorrow about the Evo 400. How does the Evo 400 preamp compare to the BHK preamp? Thanks
Finallllllllyyyyyyyyy. Thank you
Looks like a beast.
Kevin love your stuff ,please do ahead to head review with Mac /prima Luna it would be amazing,Thankyou and stay safe brother
Hi Kevin, if I buy this evo400 pre-amp, do I have to pair it with a tube power amp? What’s the best pairing ?
Hi Kevin, may i know the advantage in going pre/power (EVO400) vs the integrated EVO400? The separates are double the cost of the integrated version so is the performance increase in sound quality double as well?
What would you say are the differences sonically between the EVO 300 and 400 poweramps??
Does the Evo 300 sound the same? I don't need balanced connections.
Aren't the black caps in the Evo 400 better than the white ones used in the 300?
how many stages of power supply regulation does this preamp have?
Could I use a PrimaLuna EVO 400 PREamp with my Yamaha A-S 3000 integrated amp? I know that I must use the main in input of the Yamaha integrated amplifier to use it only as a power amp. But I don't know what the input resistance of the power section of the integrated amplifier is. The plan is to first use the Primaluna pre + the power stage of the Yamaha integrated. Then replace the Yamaha with a Primaluna Evo 400 power amp and finally buy another new Primaluna Evo 400 power amp to use them in monophonic mode. An investment in several steps.
Prima Luna reminds me Soviet radiolas and TVs from the 1960. They ALL had point to point soldering. 3 huge transformers (not toroidal though). But tubes sockets PL use were used only in oscilloscopes. Hot about PL use HUGE tantalum capacitors that Soviet used in military electronics?
I'd love that. Toroidal transformers aren't as good as people think they are
You can say that again , the price of preamps have become a nightmare and I continue to wonder why.
Kevin can you recommend a tube preamp, I guess would be the right word that I might complement my Hegel 590? For times when I’d like to get a different sound?
Big question. If you're in the USA send a note through our website and we can cover that for you. I might have someone reach out but telll them I want to see your system.
Can you tell which McIntosh model who uses mirror so it looks like more tubes
Anybody know how to best connect the KEF KC62 subwoofer to the Primaluna Evo 400 preamp/power units? I’m new to this midway in life lol.. appreciate the expertise folks 🙏🏼
Are you guys doing cartiage installs right now?
I've got a Primaluma preamp p3 and I like it a lot and sublime sound quality and value. But what's the difference in sound quality between this evo to mine?
It's quite different, but your preamp kicks ass like all the old PrimaLuna. EVO400 is no holds barred.
Is that a fully balanced topology from input to output?
No. It doesn't need to be. That's why it has transformers.
Kevin cofounded primaluna right?
👍 you tube guru.
$800 difference between EVO 300 and EVO 400 preamplifiers is only due to balanced outputs?
Good transformers are VERY expensive.
@@upscaleaudio I don't believe you mentioned it in the video, and I can't find it on the Primaluna website, but is the EVO 400 series fully balanced? I don't mean balanced from connection to connection, but fully differential.
@@solarfall2728 of course it is NOT
I want to know more about Atman-Sphere. American made tube gear that has auto-bias, plus xls balance I/O. I see you had some used that is still high dollar in my book. Whats wrong with it?
Nothing wrong with it. Not the same. OTL amps, and they are not auto-bias, they are self-bias
@@upscaleaudio Doesn't that mean you don't have to bias them with a meter? I know they are OTL & I know what OTL means. I'm just very curious about them. I would like to see them in demonstration, with something highly efficient like big Tannoy, or Klipsch. Their obscurity is part of my curiosity. I would like to hear the difference from them, being OTL, in comparison to a transformer output amp like the Prima Luna, Mystere, Cary, Manley. It's a big pain in the ass I know.
Can the Evo 400 sound better than the Lamm LL2.1 Deluxe?
id like to know too
@@Smood47 unfortunately probably not!
@@klepp19 Did you compare them ?
@@Smood47 No I wish I could! I almost bought the Lamm but went with 300b integrated.
Hey Kevin. I got a quick question. How do you know when a tube is or goes bad?
That is not a quick question. It either shorts, goes noisy, or loses top end and bottom end.
Upscale Audio High Fidelity thanks for answering. My tube amplifier recently just started to have a humming sound. Not very loud you can’t hear it at all when music is playing but I know it’s there. I was just curious if one of my kt 120 tubes went bad or one of my 12 au 7’s
A tube went in my ARC. No warning whatsoever. First a boom and a screech out of my brand new speakers. Then a hot piece of something flew out of the top and hit me right in the face. Could have taken my eye out.
I said let me get something less dangerous. I traded it in for a Pass amp. Brought home, plugged it in, turned it on, and it burst into flames right on my living room floor. So I went back to tubes.
They scrub your back, you scrub theirs... that being said it is a great product.
Two years ago I rescued my system from its 15 year hibernation. My 1985 Yamaha A-1000 integrated amp died in 2004 and having small children at the time my wife seized on the dead amp to recommend that I sell my stereo. I packed it up and put it in my car but I couldn't bring myself to drive out of the garage so instead I put it in a corner of the basement.
In 2019 I bought the Yamaha A-S3000 and got my stereo running again. My Infinity RS4b speakers sounded much better than I remember them sounding! I thought if a new amp could make my old speakers sound a lot better, how would upgrading speakers make my system sound? So last December I upgraded the Infinity's to Magico A3's. The speakers are still breaking in but they are a tremendous upgrade in sonics. I thought I was done with buying components.
A few weeks ago a new friend who also has Magico speakers, the S7's, brought over a Prima Luna Dialogue One amp for me to listen to in my system. I couldn't believe the difference in sound! This little 35 watt tube amp delivered much more bass, a fuller, more organic "meat on the bones" sound to the music. Kenny Burrell Midnight Blue sounded as if they were jamming in my listening room live! My wife listened and said "how can you go back to the Yamaha?" "Are you going to sell the Yamaha?" For three glorious weeks I listened to the Prima Luna. Then yesterday I had to go back to the Yamaha. I've listened to my stereo twice since putting the Yamaha back in and it just hasn't been the same.
The Magicos require a lot of power so hopefully sooner than later my next purchase will be the Prima Luna EVO 400 mono blocks with the EVO 400 Tube Preamplifier. I'm looking forward to that day! Anybody wanna buy a silver face Yamaha A-S3000?
How much?
@@WBP3TV 5k
I'm not a fan of the Alps Blue velvet. They should have used a stepped attenuator.
He's talking same things in EVERY video. Toroids, tube rectifier, parts, Mundorfs, "I have to tell you this/that" ;D
That's because all PrimaLuna's follow the same credo, and it's worth repeating. I have to assume this is the first video the viewer has ever seen. Thanks!
ac offset removal? I think he means dc offset
I was a little upset with my last transaction with Upscale. I bought a Musical Fidelity integrated amp and the sales agent I was working with knew that
I had Klipsch speakers. When I got the amp and ran it through a break in period the speakers were superbly clear but very bright. I asked if they could send me the noise filter kit to tone it down a bit and they told me they only give them away with speaker sales. Well if that is the case then Kevin's adage of "we treat your stereo like it was our own" isn't so true. Why would they match up an amp to speakers they know would sound bright with that amp or vice versa. I talked to another agent later in the week to see if he could do something and he suggested I buy a tube amp. OK, so what do I do with the musical fidelity amp then, sell it for
a loss. Don't get me wrong, you are treated like respect and they have great products but I wish they would practice what they preach as far as that adage is concerned.
James G. Any business is only as good as its weakest link, plus they are ultimately driven by sales targets
hahahahah - he is brilliant businessman!! Primaluna was built for him to sell tubes!!! it is ALL about $$$$$$
@@agsp4785 Isn't that true about all businesses?
Yada yada yada...just get on and actually review the product
Naaah, they just wanted free stuff.
They are midfi amps at best I heard them compared to others. If you want a good tube amp get a VAC. Cry once pay once..Made in the USA but it is 10k but worth 20k for their integrated. If you want to spend 4-5-6 grand get a Naim SuperNait3 or Hegel h390 in solid state or Quicksilver mono 120's with KT88's and their preamp for tubes.
Disagree. EVO 400 blows away the C220 I had previously. Better clarity and soundstage.
Kevin cofounded primaluna right?